Welcome to Cloud Zombie’s Land of Post Apocalypse and Dystopia!
This little segment is not really for reviews but instead it has me talking about some of my favourite dystopia/post-apocalyptic fiction (Films, Tv, Books and Games).
They are not always necessarily good or bad, some of them are bloody atrocious but sometimes that can make it more fun. You get to choose if you want to give them a try if you haven’t already seen them.
So we’ve hit December and what better way to help celebrate this time of year with some holiday dystopia and post-apocalyptic festivities.
***MILD SPOILERS AHEAD***
TV Series
UK Soap Operas(AKA EastEnders, Coronation Street, Hollyoaks, Emmerdale)
UK Soap operas have become a bit of a joke to me when it comes to Christmas episodes. Nobody ever has a happy Christmas and someone will most certainly die, die hard and die hard with a vengeance…
Every family fights and sometimes they are worse over the festive period because we are all trying to live the festive dream that we can never make perfect as hard as we try. In the soaps however they take this to a whole new low.
Someone accidentally invites their mistress to their family Christmas party, someone explodes in a car in a field while trying to get home for Christmas (Casualty and Holby City are the rulers of this theme), the guy you thought was the friendly café owner turns out to be the worst human being *ever* and someone tries to one-up the usual burning of the Christmas dinner, not only burning down their house but the whole street. Terrace houses can be a tricky thing when it comes to fire, believe me I've seen it happen.
I feel I or Rob should put in a disclaimer now…
If you want a relatively normal Christmas, don’t live in a Soap Opera. Their Dystopia hasn’t a chance of even getting better eventually. Hope is what gives dystopia its draw, if there is none life wouldn't be worth the fight.
Book/Audiobook
After Days (After Days Trilogy #1) By Scott Medbury (EBook)
Goodreads Link
Nothing says "Dystopian Christmas" like all adults dying over the festive period and leaving all the children alone to fend for themselves.
Ok, how about an evil army from another country deciding to invade and annex the country because there’s nobody left to fight except teens and children? That’s pretty bad, right?
Ok then…how about that country who has invaded admitting to creating the virus that has wiped out all the adults apart from them because they have been immunised? That’s a pretty shitty Christmas right there.
Oh and it just happens to be during Winter. If that isn't a frozen dick to the face I don't know what is.
So the children are alone in a freezing powerless country, with those who fight back shot on sight and those who surrender taken to work camps to work under the rule of their new country leaders.
Some have joined and are working for the enemy, turning in their fellow children for food and warmth. Of course you share the hope of those children that have banded together to look after each other and find a sanctuary to call their own.
Game
Bioshock
Moving to a little later into the festive season (well, to be precise, exactly out the other side and beyond), Rapture is an underwater city created by a guy and some acquaintances.
These people want to be themselves, working on things without rules getting in the way and to be able to keep the money they have earned. It’s quite an achievement and anyone should be proud to be the creators of an underwater city, especially one built to become a utopia of science, creation and to live free.
Unfortunately the bigwig at the top of the ladder got a little big for his boots and what supposedly started as a utopia soon crumpled into a nightmare of a dystopia. Some of the things created within Rapture caused a lot of its occupants to go mad, turn on each other and become something completely different than how they entered Rapture.
Everything has already started to go to shit and by the time New Year kicks in it’s a bloody shit-storm for the inhabitants of the aquatic city.
I love the story of Bioshock. It's very dark and claustrophobic. You are one fractured piece of glass away from being drowned in the dark icy ocean and having that held over your head is never enjoyable but thrilling nonetheless.
Thank you for reading!
Kat (aka Cloud Zombie) is a daydreaming enthusiast and self-professed Minecraft/Sims junkie from Kent, England.
She blogs about her passions over at cloudzombie, covering everything from video games, movies and TV all the way to baking.